The Vickers Valiant was the first of Britain’s V-Bombers designed to deliver nuclear weapons at long range. A Valiant was the first aeroplane to drop an atomic bomb over Australia, at Maralinga in October 1956.

At the end of World War II Britain began developing a new generation of long-range bombers capable of delivering atomic bombs at high speed and high altitude.

The first was the Vickers Valiant, the prototype flying on 18 May 1951.

The first pre-production Valiants were flown in 1953, they entered service in 1955 and flew operationally during the Suez Campaign of late 1956.

A total of 107 Valiants were produced but the development of anti-aircraft missiles meant bombers had to attack at low altitude to evade detection and this accelerated the Valiant’s wing spar fatigue so they were withdrawn from service in 1965.

Welsh Models 1:144 kit completed by Leigh Edmonds in June 1998.